1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fields of biotechnology and molecular biology. In particular, the present invention relates to joining multiple nucleic acid molecules containing one or more recombination sites and/or one or more topoisomerase recognition sites. The present invention also relates to cloning such joined nucleic acid molecules using recombinational cloning methods such as those employing topoisomerase and/or recombination proteins. The invention also relates to joining multiple peptides, and combinations of peptides and nucleic acid molecules through the use of recombination sites and/or topoisomerase recognition sites. Other molecules and compounds or combinations of molecules and compounds may also be joined through recombination sites and/or topoisomerase recognition sites according to the invention. Such peptides, nucleic acids and other molecules and/or compounds (or combinations thereof) may also be joined or bound through recombination reactions and/or through topoisomerase joining reactions to one or a number of supports or structures in accordance with the invention.
2. Related Art
Site-Specific Recombinases
Site-specific recombinases are proteins that are present in many organisms (e.g. viruses and bacteria) and have been characterized as having both endonuclease and ligase properties. These recombinases (along with associated proteins in some cases) recognize specific sequences of bases in a nucleic acid molecule and exchange the nucleic acid segments flanking those sequences. The recombinases and associated proteins are collectively referred to as “recombination proteins” (see, e.g., Landy, A., Current Opinion in Biotechnology 3:699-707 (1993)).
Numerous recombination systems from various organisms have been described. See, e.g., Hoess, et al., Nucleic Acids Research 14(6):2287 (1986); Abremski, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 261(1):391 (1986); Campbell, J. Bacteriol. 174(23):7495 (1992); Qian, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267(10:7794 (1992); Araki, et al., J. Mol. Biol. 225(1):25 (1992); Maeser and Kahnmann, Mol. Gen. Genet. 230:170-176) (1991); Esposito, et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 25(18):3605 (1997). Many of these belong to the integrase family of recombinases (Argos, et al., EMBO J. 5:433-440 (1986); Voziyanov, et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 27:930 (1999)). Perhaps the best studied of these are the Integrase/att system from bacteriophage (Landy, A. Current Opinions in Genetics and Devel. 3:699-707 (1993)), the Cre/loxP system from bacteriophage P1 (Hoess and Abremski (1990) In Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol. 4. Eds.: Eckstein and Lilley, Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; pp. 90-109), and the FLP/FRT system from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae 2μ circle plasmid (Broach, et al., Cell 29:227-234 (1982)).
Recombination Sites
Whether the reactions discussed above are termed recombination, transposition or integration and are catalyzed by a recombinase, transposase or integrase, they share the key feature of specific recognition sequences, often termed “recombination sites,” on the nucleic acid molecules participating in the reactions. These recombination sites are sections or segments of nucleic acid on the participating nucleic acid molecules that are recognized and bound by the recombination proteins during the initial stages of integration or recombination. For example, the recombination site for Cre recombinase is loxP which is a 34 base pair sequence comprised of two 13 base pair inverted repeats (serving as the recombinase binding sites) flanking an 8 base pair core sequence. See FIG. 1 of Sauer, B., Curr. Opin. Biotech. 5:521-527 (1994). Other examples of recognition sequences include the attB, attP, attL, and attR sequences which are recognized by the recombination protein (Int. attB is an approximately 25 base pair sequence containing two 9 base pair core-type Int binding sites and a 7 base pair overlap region, while attP is an approximately 240 base pair sequence containing core-type Int binding sites and arm-type Int binding sites as well as sites for auxiliary proteins integration host factor (IHF), FIS and excisionase (Xis). See Landy, Curr. Opin. Biotech. 3:699-707 (1993).
Conventional Nucleic Acid Cloning
The cloning of nucleic acid segments currently occurs as a daily routine in many research labs and as a prerequisite step in many genetic analyses. The purpose of these clonings is various, however, two general purposes can be considered: (1) the initial cloning of nucleic acid from large DNA or RNA segments (chromosomes, YACs, PCR fragments, mRNA, etc.), done in a relative handful of known vectors such as pUC, pGem, pBlueScript, and (2) the subcloning of these nucleic acid segments into specialized vectors for functional analysis. A great deal of time and effort is expended both in the transfer of nucleic acid segments from the initial cloning vectors to the more specialized vectors. This transfer is called subcloning.
The basic methods for cloning have been known for many years and have changed little during that time. A typical cloning protocol is as follows:    (1) digest the nucleic acid of interest with one or two restriction enzymes;    (2) gel purify the nucleic acid segment of interest when known;    (3) prepare the vector by cutting with appropriate restriction enzymes, treating with alkaline phosphatase, gel purify etc., as appropriate;    (4) ligate the nucleic acid segment to the vector, with appropriate controls to eliminate background of uncut and self-ligated vector;    (5) introduce the resulting vector into an E. coli host cell;    (6) pick selected colonies and grow small cultures overnight;    (7) make nucleic acid minipreps; and    (8) analyze the isolated plasmid on agarose gels (often after diagnostic restriction enzyme digestions) or by PCR.
The specialized vectors used for subcloning nucleic acid segments are functionally diverse. These include but are not limited to: vectors for expressing nucleic acid molecules in various organisms; for regulating nucleic acid molecule expression; for providing tags to aid in protein purification or to allow tracking of proteins in cells; for modifying the cloned nucleic acid segment (e.g., generating deletions); for the synthesis of probes (e.g., riboprobes); for the preparation of templates for nucleic acid sequencing; for the identification of protein coding regions; for the fusion of various protein-coding regions; to provide large amounts of the nucleic acid of interest, etc. It is common that a particular investigation will involve subcloning the nucleic acid segment of interest into several different specialized vectors.
As known in the art, simple subclonings can be done in one day (e.g., the nucleic acid segment is not large and the restriction sites are compatible with those of the subcloning vector). However, many other subclonings can take several weeks, especially those involving unknown sequences, long fragments, toxic genes, unsuitable placement of restriction sites, high backgrounds, impure enzymes, etc. One of the most tedious and time consuming type of subcloning involves the sequential addition of several nucleic acid segments to a vector in order to construct a desired clone. One example of this type of cloning is in the construction of gene targeting vectors. Gene targeting vectors typically include two nucleic acid segments, each identical to a portion of the target gene, flanking a selectable marker. In order to construct such a vector, it may be necessary to clone each segment sequentially, i.e., first one gene fragment is inserted into the vector, then the selectable marker and then the second fragment of the target gene. This may require a number of digestion, purification, ligation and isolation steps for each fragment cloned. Subcloning nucleic acid fragments is thus often viewed as a chore to be done as few times as possible.
Several methods for facilitating the cloning of nucleic acid segments have been described, e.g., as in the following references.
Ferguson, J., et al., Gene 16:191 (1981), disclose a family of vectors for subcloning fragments of yeast nucleic acids. The vectors encode kanamycin resistance. Clones of longer yeast nucleic acid segments can be partially digested and ligated into the subcloning vectors. If the original cloning vector conveys resistance to ampicillin, no purification is necessary prior to transformation, since the selection will be for kanamycin.
Hashimoto-Gotoh, T., et al., Gene 41:125 (1986), disclose a subcloning vector with unique cloning sites within a streptomycin sensitivity gene; in a streptomycin-resistant host, only plasmids with inserts or deletions in the dominant sensitivity gene will survive streptomycin selection.
Notwithstanding the improvements provided by these methods, traditional subclonings using restriction and ligase enzymes are time consuming and relatively unreliable. Considerable labor is expended, and if two or more days later the desired subclone can not be found among the candidate plasmids, the entire process must then be repeated with alternative conditions attempted.
Recombinational Cloning
Cloning systems that utilize recombination at defined recombination sites have been previously described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,888,732, 6,143,557, 6,171,861, 6,270,969, and 6,277,608 which are specifically incorporated herein by reference. In brief, the Gateway™ Cloning System, described in this application and the applications referred to in the related applications section, utilizes vectors that contain at least one and preferably at least two different site-specific recombination sites based on the bacteriophage lambda system (e.g., att1 and att2) that are mutated from the wild type (att0) sites. Each mutated site has a unique specificity for its cognate partner att site of the same type (for example attB1 with attP1, or attL1 with attR1) and will not cross-react with recombination sites of the other mutant type or with the wild-type att0 site. Nucleic acid fragments flanked by recombination sites are cloned and subcloned using the Gateway™ system by replacing a selectable marker (for example, ccdB) flanked by att sites on the recipient plasmid molecule, sometimes termed the Destination Vector. Desired clones are then selected by transformation of a ccdB sensitive host strain and positive selection for a marker on the recipient molecule. Similar strategies for negative selection (e.g., use of toxic genes) can be used in other organisms such as thymidine kinase (TK) in mammals and insects.
Mutating specific residues in the core region of the att site can generate a large number of different att sites. As with the att1 and att2 sites utilized in Gateway™, each additional mutation potentially creates a novel alt site with unique specificity that will recombine only with its cognate partner aut site bearing the same mutation and will not cross-react with any other mutant or wild-type att site. Novel mutated alt sites (e.g., attB 1-10, attP 1-10, attR 1-10 and attL 1-10) are described in commonly owned U.S. application Ser. No. 09/517,466, filed Mar. 2, 2000, which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. Other recombination sites having unique specificity (i.e., a first site will recombine with its corresponding site and will not recombine or not substantially recombine with a second site having a different specificity) may be used to practice the present invention. Examples of suitable recombination sites include, but are not limited to, loxP sites and derivatives such as loxP511 (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,808), frt sites and derivatives, dif sites and derivatives, psi sites and derivatives and cer sites and derivatives. The present invention provides novel methods using such recombination sites to join or link multiple nucleic acid molecules or segments and more specifically to clone such multiple segments into one or more vectors containing one or more recombination sites (such as any Gateway™ Vector including Destination Vectors).